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Creator
Gohman, Don
Call number
JPB 06-34
Physical description
24 linear feet (48 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Don Gohman Papers, JPB 06-34. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The Don Gohman Papers primarily consist of scores, mostly for the Broadway musical Ambassador (1972), but also for 19 other stage, television and film productions, some never produced. The collection also contains correspondence, business papers and clippings.

Biographical/historical information

Don Gohman (1927 – ca. 1974) grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied piano at Cincinnati Conservatory with Leo Paalz and composition with Carl W. Grimm. He also studied composition at Miami University before moving to New York in 1948, where he continued music and theatre studies at the Juilliard School and the American Theater Wing. His first project in New York was the music for the Boris Runanin ballet I Laughed At Spring (1952), performed by the Slavenska-Franklin Ballet Company, and he later wrote music for a CBS television series, Turnpike. However, Gohman’s main goals were to write musical comedies and pop songs. Among his popular song successes were Never My Love, Every Woman and Once Before.

In the mid-1950s he teamed with the lyricist Hal Hackady. Gohman and Hackady wrote songs for two films, Let’s Rock and Senior Prom (both 1958), and started writing material for stage musicals. Several of their efforts, including Mrs. Who, O’Malley’s Nuns and Step Right Up, were never produced. Work on the musical Ambassador, based on the Henry James novel The Ambassadors, began in 1960 after it was optioned by Jim Downey, Jr. (the original idea for creating a musical out of the novel was James Thurber’s). It was not produced until 1971, with a book by Don Ettlinger and Anna Marie Barlow, and starred Howard Keel, Danielle Darrieux and a young Andrea Marcovicci. The show opened in London to weak reviews and ran for 86 performances. It was reworked, with some songs dropped and others added, and opened in previews in New York on November 2, 1972, but again received negative reviews and closed after 19 performances. Gohman reportedly committed suicide not long after the show closed, but the Gohman Papers contain work on a musical, The Little Prince Who Cried, which dates from 1974.

Source: Filchia, Peter. “Be Thankful.” November 24, 2004, Theatermania.com (Accessed 26 Sept. 2007) http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm?int_news_id=5373&showComments=recent

Scope and arrangement

The Don Gohman Papers consist mostly of scores for the stage and film projects Gohman wrote music for, as well as for songs he wrote for recording artists, usually with the lyricist Hal Hackady. Scores for the musical Ambassador make up the bulk of the collection, and include lead sheets of all songs written for the London and New York productions, as well as orchestrations, parts and sketches. Other projects documented by scores include the ballet I Laughed At Spring, an unproduced musical about P.T. Barnum called Step Right Up, the 1958 film Senior Prom and several unproduced projects. The collection also contains business papers, clippings and correspondence documenting Gohman’s career and his various projects.

The Don Gohman papers are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Scores
    1946-1974 and undated
    44.5 boxes

    This series comprises the bulk of the collection. It is divided into three sub-series, instrumental music, projects and songs. The instrumental music was not composed for any particular stage or film project, and may have been for school assignments only. The projects sub-series contains music composed for stage and film productions, primarily the musical Ambassador. The third sub-series is comprised of lead sheets for songs by Gohman which were not obviously linked to any specific stage or film project.

  • Series II: Papers
    1949-1974 and undated
    3.5 boxes

    This series consists of business papers and correspondence, newspaper clippings, and lyrics submitted to Gohman by various lyricists. The projects Gohman was involved with are documented by correspondence, notes, contracts, scripts and publicity material. The clippings document Gohman’s life and career from 1950 to 1972. Ambassador has the most documentation of this series, in both business papers and clippings, although earlier projects also show up in the clippings. The lyrics include a folder of Hal Hackady work, as well as a large set of lyrics from unknown and unidentified writers.

Administrative information

Processing information

Processed by Matthew Snyder; Machine-readable finding aid created by Matthew Snyder.

Separated material

  • 45 rpm singles
    • Hampton, Paul. The Longer I Love You/Love. Columbia 4-41254. From film Senior Prom.
    • Heatherton, Ray. Alfred The Air-Sick Eagle/The Pirate Parrot. Cadence 1296.
    • Small, Mary. One Five-Seven Single/That Could Be Love. Coral 9-61960.
  • Demonstration Single
    • The Day After Father’s Day. Music by Don Gohman, lyric by Van Cunningham.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.